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OK so we're not getting a 3rd because we lost a 1st rounder in Edmunds, it's completely because of the contract he signed with Bears?

I am pumped about the 3rd round pick for Edmunds. The best value we got since we drafted him was the 3rd round comp pick for letting him go. I knew there had to be something good about over drafting Tremaine Edmunds in 2018. Thank god Beane and the Bills moved on. Terrell Bernard is such a better fit for our defense.

They had a ton of cap space, Edmunds actually played pretty well the last half of the season AND this gives the bears the opportunity to reset the quarterback position with a rookie contract for the top prospect. Only question is can they FINALLY develop a QB. Jay cutler being one of the franchises top signal callers speaks volumes

I would disagree with this only because Allen was 21, Edmunds was 20, Rousseau was 20, Oliver 21, Elam 20. When Beane takes athletic profiles in round 1 he does it when they’re extremely young. He has never take a 23 year old raw prospect. If you looking at athletic profiles and youth your looking at Brian Thomas and AD Mitchell Even Keon Coleman is 20 but I wouldn’t consider him an athletic freak

Man, I wish I could get on the BTJ train... but I can't. My kingdom for one highlight of him snatching the ball over the middle, or a route that shows nuance and shiftiness. If he's drafted, I'll get on-board quick. But I see a souped up Gabe. Plus he has injury concerns, on-field concerns (hands, route running clearly a work in progress), and personality concerns (doesn't exactly strike me as an alpha). He strikes me as the Tremaine Edmunds of wide receivers. He's super impressive physically, but a complete projection as a football player. Beane, like most GM's, are salivating over his traits. But I'd be thrilled if they pass on him. Also, can someone give me a more hopeful comp than Christian Watson or DJ Chark. The PFF guys have him somewhere between wr #9 and wr#15. I'm open to plenty of positivity.

Can't disagree with the McD + (slow-playing) rookies sentiments, but... ...there have been significant challenges to our widely accepted view of McD's conservative rookie development approach. These include: O'Cyrus Torrence, Tremaine Edmunds, Tre White, Spencer Brown, Christian Benford, Groot and Ed Oliver. Roughly 1 rookie per year gets starting traction from the jump, on average. And usually another rookie or two begins to contribute with increasing frequency/impact as the season progresses. Bunch more really solid examples there: with Allen and Milano leading that accelerated year-one progression charge. Sounds to my Bills ears like Coleman will have EVERY chance to see the field a LOT early on, and like Bishop will definitely rotate in and play Teams, and Carter will absolutely be the #3 or #4 DT in the rotation there. I think Solomon will actually get a bunch of pass rush reps by mid-year if game scripts allow for it. (I hope Shorter and/or Shavers take a legitimate step forward this season. We all should, of course, but I am actually optimistic one of them will earn an outside spot.)

Beane has shown in the past (Allen, Edmunds) that he will trade up to get a player. I don't think he has enough to trade up into the teens but if one of these WR's fall that he wants I could see a possible trade up to the early #20's to try and get him.

Coleman I think be close to the 1st round average and so should comfortably be over the 2nd round average (I think he has 750 yards plus). I think Bishop starts pretty quickly if not out of the gate. I think he beats this projection as he gets a few sacks from playing close to the line so much. I don't think McD has held back 7 rookies out if he thinks they can play (Benford, White, Edmunds, Taron). Milano and Levi are the only rookies I can think he "held" back and both were super sleepers (Elam is the only other rookie starter, but that was more of an injury need iirc). Carter is tough to beat 0.2 splash per game but probably can beat 0.1 (average without 2023) cause he seems to have a knack for swatting passes (did this metric include TFL @appoo?) Davis will fall short of 500 yards so I think will be below this metric, but would exceed the TD metric if you calculated. I don't think hell get touches that set up for a lot of yards. Also I think Ty Johnson will start as the primary back up to cook so Davis may suffer from only have situational use early.

I agree with you on the not trading up twice. Sure, they did it in 2018 to get Josh and Edmunds but they’re already without a 3rd. I also don’t see our defensive-minded head coach going for WRs with the 1st 2 picks without having that 3rd. IMO Curtis Samuel will overall be a better WR for this team. His versatility will allow them to do more things with him. Whether they move up for a B. Thomas or just stay put and get an A. Mitchell, they can wait until the 4th or beyond to grab a 2nd rookie. They can also still pick up a decent veteran free agent like DJ Chark to fill out the WR room.

Yeah, I hear ya. I guess my point is that Beane and co seem to love using their early draft picks on really athletic, high ceiling college players and entrusting their coaches to coach those guys up (Allen, Edmunds, Coleman, Elam, etc). I wish they'd apply that same strategy and willingness to late round players, and entrust their coaches to teach those guys to play special teams. In other words, I think they go about it a little backwards sometimes. They pick players that they already know will be good special teamers, and hope they can coach them into being useful on offense and defense. Sometimes, I wish they'd instead pick players that they think will be useful on offense or defense, and then trust their coaches to teach them to play special teams. As long as a guy has a WILLINGNESS to play special teams, if he's a good athlete, then he can theoretically be taught. It's picking nits, because we're talking about late round players. It's also situationally specific. But in the instance of Justin Shorter, they could've foreseen an upcoming need at WR (with Davis set to become a free agent and Sherfield/Harty on short term deals), and concentrated more on finding a guy that had a potentially bright future on offense (Nacua, Wicks, Douglas, etc).

Well Beane has shown he'll trade up for his guy-Allen Edmunds Kincaid etc If we're drafting WR in Rd1 they better be more like a 1b than WR2. If not, then get one in rd 2, there's just so much talent at WR position

I think the guy you're referring to is Joe Marino, the host of Locked On Bills. He's normally great, but was extremely dismissive of the idea that Diggs might get traded and went as far as to say if anyone suggests it, you're "only showing that you're not an informed fan." Now that it has happened ... crickets. I hope he addresses this at some point, because he had a very similar take on Tremaine Edmunds and finally admitted that he was very wrong after several weeks of not addressing Bernard's outperformance last season. I listen to the guy every day and love his podcasts, but he seems to not be willing to take the L when it matters.

You seem to be able to see into the future.., or you just had a knee jerk reaction, remember Edmunds? And the hole 🕳 he supposedly would leave in our defense? In actuality it never happened …, and we got better because of him being let go…,

Not sure what the OP is really getting at, but the most recent time we drafted immediate starters in the 1st 2 rounds of the draft was last year in Kincaid and Torrence. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/draft.htm If you look at the Bills sorry draft history and looking for good players with our 1st two picks, you come back with 2018 (Allen & Edmunds), 2017 (White, Zay Jones & Dion Dawkins - although Jones is better in Jax then he ever was with us), 2007 (Lynch & Pusluszny), 2003 (McGahee and Kelsey), and 2001 (Clements & Schobel). Not exactly a great drafting history. I am excited about the last two drafts, especially 2022. So far there are 4 starters from that class (Cook (2nd), Bernard (3rd), Shakir (5th) & Benford (6th)) and that is even with the 1st rd miss in Elam. This rivals 2018 (Allen, Edmunds, Philips, Taron Johnson and Wyatt Teller) and 2017 (White, Jones, Dawkins, and Milano) What is the best class in Bills' history? 1985 - Bruce Smith, Chris Burkett, Frank Reich, Andre Reed and Dale Hellestrae? Of the 12 Bills draftees to play 200 or more NFL games, 3 come from the 1985 class. (Class also includes 2 of the 6 Bills HOF draftees who actually played for Buffalo.)

I mean, you may be right that the Bills brass isn't as concerned as I am. After all, they had every confidence in Russell Bodine starting at C in front of rookie Josh Allen the year Eric Wood retired for medical reasons, and they weren't concerned about that (though they should have been, and after that season, Beane acknowledged they should have done more). But the thread asked our opinions here on OBD, not "what do we think the Bills brass will do". You asked for our opinions, I gave you mine. I don't care how brilliant a guy was coming out of high school. Justin Shorter was a top recruit at WR coming out of high school. By that metric, the other WR should just go home. But the NFL is a whole different level from even Alabama (or Georgia), and a guy like McGovern who committed to a D1 school as a Center but hasn't played it much since then, needs to Show Me before I think it's wise to bail on the only other option on the roster with actual game experience at C. Guys who have forgotten more ball than I'll ever know like @Buffalo716 have pointed out some of Van Pran Granger's need for technique development. I hope he develops fast, but let's not bet the season on it. The point isn't to have a "capable" OL, the point is to have a great OL, at least as good as last year and maybe better. And if David Edmunds were a better LG than Connor McGovern, he would have started there last season.

This may be the sneakiest Edmunds post in the history of the board.

This is irritating. Last year when Edmunds was walking there were so many people in terms of podcasters and posters on here saying we'd get a 3rd because it's a formula. So to those of you who said it would be a 3rd, what happened?

No it failed miserably with Edmunds, his market value was less than they paid for the 5th year option and worse, he outperformed it and then cost 35% more, so much so they had to let him walk. Either you extend or you franchise, you don’t lock yourself into a high risk low reward situation of the 5th year, it’s stupid.

Beane didn't "more or less" say Coleman was going to be the X, he flat out said we see him as our X. However, as OTAs progress and the Coleman hype train gathers momentum, it's been notable that Beane has been trying to "manage expectations", talking about how young he is (I had Edmunds flashbacks), "he’s going to have bumps in the road. He’s a rookie, and I think we all need to understand that." I believe he's also said some stuff about having other guys in the room who can do it if the rookies can't right away. I think there are two separate issues perhaps being conflated a bit here. One is Beane/McDermott's expectations: yes, they expect Coleman to play, but Beane is also giving off vibes he's not going out there for a lion's share of the snaps no matter what, he's got to master the playbook and earn his playing time. I don't think he's hyping him as Diggs successor. Instead Brady is talking about spreading the ball around. The other is the Coleman Hype Train. We have an off season devoid of significant free agent moves, where the team's biggest offensive weapon for the last 4 years (outside QB) got unceremoniously traded and not clearly replaced. Then we have our top draft pick turn out to be a Goldmine for sound bites. So yeah, the Biols PR is running with him and he's getting hyped up a bunch in the press. Maybe he's getting up-sold as Diggs successor, but I don't hear that as coming from Beane or McDermott. From the Bills PR side of things, I think it's more he's enormously personable and a great interview and Beane didn't give them much of anyone else to talk about. TL;DR two separate issues here: 1) How Beane and McDermott see Coleman's contributions year one and how they present him to the press 2) How the Bills PR machine and press are hyping him up

Poyer - 99% of us LOVE Gabe - Fans will give him a standing ovation next time we see him Morse - (See above for Gabe) Tre - People in the stands will probably cry next time they see him in person if the team recognizes him, which they will Singletary - Fans were all rooting for this year Edmunds and Diggs are the two that we’ve dumped on.. One because he just wasn’t worth his contract projection, but no real ill will from fans. The fan reaction to Diggs is different for a reason .. and plenty are still wishing him well. And yea.. we all hope Houston somehow becomes a train wreck, why on earth would we not?

Von Miller: if you don't understand why he did it. There's no help for you Dawson Knox. Yes, bad contract. Stefan Diggs: Again, if you don't see why he did it at the time, there's no help for you You are correct. The Dline picks have been pretty disappointing. No reliable pass rusher. Pretty much the same as the dline argument. DT signings: Ed Oliver, Daquon Jones. Those are just fine. Wyatt Teller: to his defense wasn't THAT great when he was with us but yes, Beane probably gave up too early. Edmunds was highly regarded out of college. Can't really fault him for that pick. He was a major need at the time All in all. Chill the f out

This is the sneakiest way to get Edmunds back I've seen yet. We gotta do it. He's still so young ..

I see Davis as the offensive loss equivalent to the departure of Edmunds on defense. Davis was a starter the last 2 seasons had very good games but also was what he was and played a certain way. A way the defense knew how to stop or contain. Samuel offers diversity in attack. Has the speed to run past coverage while also experience running routes and receiving handoffs out of the backfield. Samuel makes the offense harder to defend and excels at beating man. Buffalo has struggled to beat man if Diggs is taken away.

I liked Bernard because he saw the field in a way that lead to pass breakups and turnovers. Edmunds was a good player, and his ability to take away passing lanes likely results in the QB holding the ball which forces sacks and throwaways. He just never developed that instinctual nature that milano and bernard possess (and all the great off ball linebackers have). I think you would get more out of trading spencer brown. Low cap hit for 2024 (most teams have spent a lot of their cap budgets to this point in the season), he's 26, and he's due an extension in 2025. It'd be basically like moving a potential comp pick from 2026 to today - but considering we'll likely be spenders in 2025, you would potentially be losing him for nothing. This assumes you are comfortable with collins or van demark at RT.

The ONLY reason it was put in the CBA was to give teams a negotiating point. For a QB, “we only have to pay you ~20M on the 5th year option, so to make this work for both of us, you need to consider that in your ask.” With a guy like Groot who is worth maybe 10M a year, you just guaranteed him more than he’s worth at this time, essentially resetting your own negotiation floor if you wanted to extend him. I think this front office does a lot of things really well, but the egregious 5th year option usage proves they do not get the art of negotiation or cap management to the degree the fan boys here like to think they do. The only player the Bills should have used it on was Allen and they obviously re-upped him before it was a point. Using it and not extending him was a major miss on Edmunds, I would argue it was a floor set point for Oliver, who was over paid for his output and sorry, not sorry, is not the big impact player people here want to believe either. So twice it’s cost you more than it would have to extend a guy at the time and once it’s allowed him to price himself off the team, the other it allowed to increase their contract to more than it should have been.